A Middle English Statute-Book

Part I: ‚Statuta Antiqua’. Edited from Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson MS B 520


1. Auflage, 2011
199 Seiten

ISBN: 978-3-8253-5515-9
Sortiment: Buch
Ausgabe: Kartoniert
Fachgebiet: Anglistik/Amerikanistik
Reihe: Middle English Texts, Band: 44
lieferbar: 08.12.2011

Schlagwörter: Mittelenglisch, England, Statuta Antiqua, Mediaevistik, 14. Jahrhundert, Rechtstexte, Mittelalter, Statutenbücher, Rechtsbücher, Statute-books


Statute-books have been described as one of the most popular forms of secular literature in medieval England, and are the commonest form of medieval legal literature still extant. The statute-books all differ as to the choice and ordering of their contents, which generally include not only a selection of the statutes, but also a variety of related legal material aimed at explaining and illustrating them. The unedited Rawlinson MS B 520 is just such a compilation. Dating from the early years of the fourteenth century, it is the only known ME version of a medieval statute-book containing the ‘statuta antiqua’, that is, legislation dating from Magna Carta to the end of Edward II’s reign. Some 200 Latin and Anglo-Norman versions of these statute-books are still extant, but the most recent edition of almost all of the statutes goes back to 1810. This two-volume edition of Rawlinson MS B 520 will include statutes, memoranda and mnemonic notes (ff. lr – 54v) in Vol. I, tracts (ff. 54v – 97r) in Vol. II.

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in: Medium Aevum, LXXXIII.1 (2014), 166

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Nolwena Monnier in: Le Moyen Âge, CXX-2014.1, 198